


Rough Time of Year

by DeerWorks



Category: The Last of Us
Genre: Birthday, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Father-Daughter Relationship, Fluff, Gen, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-19
Updated: 2020-04-19
Packaged: 2021-03-02 01:06:57
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,452
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23726545
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DeerWorks/pseuds/DeerWorks
Summary: Joel's always in a worse than usual mood this time of year and Ellie wants to figure out why.
Relationships: Ellie & Joel (The Last of Us)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 223





	Rough Time of Year

It was a windy day for wall duty. Her cheeks were about to turn to ice then fall off her face if she stood out here for any longer. Luckily she didn’t have to as Tommy had just come outside to allow her to come inside for a break and some food. She followed him inside to where she could have some lunch with him and Maria, Joel was noticeably absent unlike usual.

Joel had been acting weird that day. He skipped his wall duty which he never does and wasn’t very talkative in the morning. Just made her breakfast, only gave her curt responses when she tried to talk to him and sent her on her way. It was like they’d gone back to the same way they were when they’d first started travelling together. And it was the same exact thing last year on the same day.

“Hey Tommy,” Ellie started.

“Yeah,” her sort of in a way uncle responded.

“Joel’s been acting weird today, like really standoffish. You know why?”

“Oh,” he said, looking down at his plate. _Yeah he definitely knows why,_ Ellie thought. “I couldn’t tell you Ellie, probably just woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning.”

“Tommy I kick your ass in poker every time we play you're not fooling me,” Ellie responded which made Maria crack a smile. Since her and Joel had returned to Jackson her and Maria had become pretty close friends.

“Tommy you should probably just tell her,” Maria mumbled to her husband.

“Doesn’t seem right,” he mumbled back. They started talking solely to each other and Ellie kinda felt like she’d just left the room and it was just them.

“You told me,” Maria responded.

“That was different. I never thought I’d see em’ again.”

“Just tell Ellie. If Joel tries to come at you I’ll shoot him.”

That makes Tommy scoff and he turns back to Ellie with a hesitant look in his eye. He takes a minute to think it over one more time. “Ah fuck it,” he says to himself. “It’s Joel’s birthday.”

“Oh?” Ellie responds, a little underwhelmed by the news. “That’s it?”

“Um yea-”

“Tom,” Maria interrupts immediately before her husband can end the conversation.

“Alright fine,” he grumbled. “Twenty-two years ago today the apocalypse started.”

_Oh._ Ellie thought to herself. She understood now, the world ending on your birthday would probably make you feel pretty shitty about the whole ordeal. When she looked back to Tommy and saw the pained expression in his eyes she realized he wasn’t done.

“It’s also um,” he paused, clearing his throat. “It’s also the day Sarah died.” He finished. Tommy’s head dropped and Maria moved her arm over him to comfort him.

_Oh shit._ Joel was probably at home feeling like a broken mess and she wasn’t there. She immediately got up, the screech of her chair making Maria and Tommy’s heads snap up.

“I’m really sorry, if you want I can work double time but do you think I could-”

“Don’t worry about it kiddo,” Tommy interrupts. “You can head home, we can manage without you.”

Ellie smiles and waves them goodbye as she runs out the door to get back home.

~~~

By now the wind had died down and was replaced with a light peaceful breeze. She’d had all of the streets of Jackson memorized by now. She knew where every path would take her and she knew all the shortcuts and tight spaces she could squeeze through to get to places quicker. As she runs down the main road she cuts left and crouches underneath a hole in a fence.

She keeps going straight then cuts through Jesse’s backyard, she knows he won’t mind. Finally she can see her house and she practically bursts through the door as if Joel was about to be ripped to shreds by clickers.

“Joel!” she calls out. No response, the house is completely silent and she wanders around aimlessly the run down old place that she called home. 

As she enters the kitchen, still on her search her attention is drawn to the fridge. _Yes they have a fucking fridge can you believe it?_ It didn’t have much in it. Just some water and vegetables for the most part. Occasionally people wouldn’t have enough space in their freezers and borrow Ellie and Joel’s and in exchange they’d get a little bit of the meat.

But her attention was really drawn to the pictures on the fridge, kept up by magnets taken with an old polaroid they’d found in one of the local shops. One picture was of Joel and Ellie in a nearby lake when Joel was teaching Ellie to swim. She’d like to think that she’s a pretty decent swimmer by now, at least competent enough to keep herself from drowning.

Then another picture, this time Joel wasn’t in it because he’s the one who took it. She was sitting on the couch, guitar in hand as Joel had just started giving her lessons. She wasn’t at his level of playing yet but the songs she could play sounded pretty good to her, Joel’s singing voice was much higher than hers. She never quite understood how he wasn’t a famous singer in his time.

The third and last picture on the fridge wasn’t from a special point in time, they’d just taken the horses out with Tommy and Maria and on a stop Maria got the two of them together for a picture. Joel had his arm placed around her and Ellie had a wide toothy grin, both her hands holding the arm placed lightly around her shoulders. It was one of the rare times she had seen Joel smile.

It looked so much like his picture with Sarah.

She got taken out of her thoughts when she heard the faint sound of a guitar being strummed and quiet singing, if her hearing wasn’t as attuned as it was she would have never noticed.

She followed the sound quietly to the back porch where she spotted Joel sitting on one of the chairs strumming his guitar and singing to himself. She’d only caught the last line of the song when she’d stepped into the doorway.

_But I can’t walk on the path of the right because I’m wrong._

He let out a sigh and stared straight ahead, he hadn’t seemed to have noticed her yet. He pulled the guitar off his lap and placed it aside. “What’re you doin’ here kiddo,” he said, turning his head to look at her still standing in the doorway. “I wasn’t expecting you back ‘til later.”

“Tommy let me leave early,” she practically whispered. “That song sounded nice from what I heard of it.”

“Yeah, I was thinking about teachin’ it to you,” he mumbled, eyes turned down to the ground slightly. He seemed to still be in the same mood as this morning but at least she knew why now.

“Hey, you want something to eat? I think we still got some fish left in the freezer.”

“Sure kiddo,” he said, starting to get up.

“No, sit down,” Ellie spoke softly. “I’ll go make it, you wait here.”

~~~

They pretty much ate in silence, Ellie didn’t want to push anything. All she wanted to do was be there for him right now.

Joel cleaned his plate and placed it in the sink, Ellie was close behind.

“I think I’m gonna get to sleep early today, alright kiddo?” he said.

“Ok,” Ellie spoke quietly. As Joel started to turn to head upstairs Ellie called for him. “Wait, Joel!”

She quickly ran to him and hugged him tight around the waist, squeezing him so hard she feared she might bust his rib but she didn’t want to let go. He returned her embrace but lighter, caressing the back of her head.

“I love you Joel,” she mumbled into his chest. She doesn’t think she’s ever really told him that. The fatherly-daughterly love went pretty much unspoken between them but they both knew it was there, they just never really put it into words.

“I love you too Ellie,” he said, his voice stumbling a bit and she wondered if he was maybe about to cry but she didn’t look up to check, instead electing to keep her face buried in his chest.

Finally she released him and allowed him to go upstairs. She hoped that one day he could look back on the memory of his daughter more fondly, have it not blinded by the despair of her death. Until that day came she’d be there for him forever and always. Because she knew he’d do the same for her.


End file.
